Many would have thought, upon winning the toss, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar committed a folly by inviting PBKS to bat first, in the qualifier 1 in Mullanpur. At least history showed us, that in IPL 2025, teams batting first won three matches out of four played, at the venue. But then, the Bengaluru bowlers had different plans, of course.
Suyash Sharma vs PBKS in Qualifier 1
The hosts were bundled out for one of the lowest scores in IPL playoffs history — only 101. All thanks to the returning Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, and also leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, who returned with his best figures in the tournament – 3/17.
For a bowler who had only five wickets to his name in 12 prior matches, this was no mean feat, and he bowled testing lines, and spun the ball both ways to keep the batters guessing. In his very first over he managed to bag two wickets, and eventually finished with three — Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh and also Musheer Khan.
Josh Hazlewood Among Wickets Again
This was enough to land a knockout punch on Punjab team, who have one of the strongest batting line-ups in the IPL this year. What makes this more noteworthy is, in the last five matches, he had picked up only one wicket. Despite bowling decent lines, his length was a major concern, which he finally rectified, and got rewarded handsomely.
That said, Hazlewood was at his very best too, as he too bagged three wickets in the innings. Dayal pocketed two and Bhuvi got rid of one batter initially.
